Matthew and I were blessed with the opportunity to attend our ward's youth camp this weekend. I was called a couple weeks ago to help plan and execute, and Matthew agreed to come along for extra support. It was especially fun now that Hyrum is in the youth program and was there too, though we hardly interacted with him at all. I'm so proud of how well he's integrated himself. Any even though she's not in the ward any more, Luci also came, which was super fun.
We left around noon on Thursday and drove a little over two hours into the Pecos where we had reserved a cluster of sites at the Agua Piedra campground. While it perhaps wasn't as ideal as a group site might have been, it worked out quite well considering the options we had available. We set up camp, then did some survival skills classes. There was first aid, knot tying, plant identification, and Matthew and I taught about what to do if you get lost and how to build an easy shelter out of a tarp and some rope. We had pork and beans for dinner, did some skits and improv games, then sang camp songs around the fire.
Friday was our hike day. This was the same area Matthew had his elk hunt last year and he came across a trail that lead to a beautiful meadow that he suggested we try. It ended up being quite a bit steeper than he remembered and quite a bit more difficult than most of the youth were anticipating. Matthew kept encouraging them with blatant lies that they were almost to the top, and eventually everyone made it to the flower filled meadow. Other than maybe one or two grumpy complainers, I think everyone ended up proud of themselves for their hard work and pleased with the reward at the end of their efforts.
We ate lunch and did some archery, but sooner than we would have preferred, it started to rain.
Unfortunately, this was not just an average afternoon mountain rain that is moderate in intensity and only lasts 20 minutes. This was a full deluge that lasted hours and drenched us all to the bone. It even hailed on us for a bit. Needless to say, the hike down took far less time than the hike up. By the time we got back to the cars everyone was soaked and covered in mud. Spirits were remarkably high, though, and everyone definitely came out of it with a story to tell.
The rain gratefully cleared up by the time we were ready to cook our hot dogs and have our evening fireside devotional. Despite all three youth tents having had their doors left open while we were hiking, only three sleeping bags and a few pillows got very wet. We had a couple spares, so for the most part everyone still got a decent night's rest.
This morning we had a huge breakfast. Bishop and his wife did a fantastic job with the food and there was always plenty to eat. A couple of us lead the youth on a scavenger hunt while the remaining adults packed up camp. Everyone got a sack lunch to eat on the ride home, and we pulled into the church parking lot right around 2pm. It was by far the most successful youth camp I've ever been a part of, as a youth or as a leader. There was no drama, no injuries, and not even any real complaining. We had lots of activities planned and dropped about half of them because the youth were so content with the simple joys of just being in the woods. There were plenty of adult leaders and we all had a similar laid back approach to things. It really was just a lovely, fun, simple but well executed camp.
Abraham and Mercy spent their time between the Barrios and the Jensen houses. It rained pretty good on them too and Cassie snapped a cute picture of Mercy and Lucas.
This evening we met up with Jeb and the girls at the Full Draw Film Festival, which made for a late night after a weekend of camping.
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